Plating and cleaning tank unloading device



5,. l.' M, KlRKPATRiCK 293079462 PLTING AND CLEANING TANK UNLOADING DEVICE i Filed July 22, 194i 2 sheets-shawl' INV ENTOR.

@ fyi @Mwwwv San. 5? i943. A. M. KIRKPIJ-RICK` 29379462 ILTING AND CLEANING TANK UNLOADINGy DEVICE Filed July 22, 1941 2 Sheets-sheet 2 Patented Jan. 5, 1943 PLATING AND CLEANING TANK UNLOADING DEVICE Arch Melvin Kirkpatrick, Shelby, Ohio Applicationl July 22, 1941, Serial No. 403,479

Claims.

This invention relates to tanks such as are used for electroplating or cleaning small articles. It is familiar practice to provide a barrel, which may have perforated walls, to hold the articles that are being plated, cleaned, or otherwise treated, and to provide mechanism whereby the barrel may be lowered into a tank containing the cleaning fluid, and raised out of it for unloading and reloading the barrel. My invention is particularly concerned with the mechanism for determining and controlling the positions of the barrel in its various relations to the tank, and aims to provide a simple means for the purpose, manually operable with certainty and despatch by a single operator. Essentially the arrangement includes a stationary windlass frame above the tank. By means of' a' crank the windlass is operated to raise and lower the barrel in a vertical line out of and into the tank, through the intermediary of cables, chains, or the like flexible connection from which the barrel is permanently, but extensibly, suspended, Loading and unloading of the barrel takes place at one side and at the outside of the tank, and for these operations there is an auxiliary suspension for the barrel, including rods pivoted onA the frame for appropriate swinging movement, and that may be connected to or disconnected from the barrel as occasion demands, and without making special demands on the attention or the strength of the operator.

Objects and aims of the invention will be apparent from the following description, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a View in front elevation, illustrating an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view taken at right angles to Fig. 1, with part of the tank wall broken away and showing the auxiliary tank-suspension rods and the barrel in full lines as when the barrel is above the tank, and in dotted lines as when the barrel is in unloading or loading position outside the tank;

Fig. 3 is a detail of the tank-suspension control means as in the full-line position thereof shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing the parts as in the dotted line position of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a top view of the subject-matter of Fig. 3.

Referring to the numerals on the drawings, there is shown at 5 a tank which is to contain electrolyte or cleaning iiuid or the like. Preferably secured to the ends of the tank walls is a pair of parallel standards 1, reaching to a height well above the tank as shown, and extending across and journalled in the upper ends of these standards is the rotatable axle 8 of a windlass,

rotation of which is accomplished by means of sprocket-wheel 9 on one end of the axle, chain l0, driving wheel Il, mounted on the end of a stub-shaft i3 journalled in standard 1 below and in alinement with wheel 9, and crank l2. Each of a pair of cables h1 has one end, respectively, secured adjacent to an end of axle 8, and the other end of each cable is secured to one end of suspension-rod i5, from which depends barrel I6; the connection being by way of arm I1, in one end of which respectively an end of rod l5 is secured, hangers IB secured to arms i1 in rigid angular or elbow relation as shown, as by welding or otherwise, with a cross-rod l!) to give strength to the assembly; and trunnions 2li on the barrel end walls passing through the lower` ends of hangers I8. This elbow-hanger structure is advantageous (referring to Fig. 2), because with it the barrel may be loaded to capacity before the barrel-closure 2! is put in place, and without interference by hanger parts, it being understood that the barrel is free to rotate on the trunnion 29 so that when the barrel closure 2| is moved longitudinally the longitudinal opening 22 may be properly presented for loading or unloading as hereinafter set forth.

With structure thus far described it would be possible to raise andplower the barrel vertically in relation to the tank 6. The means whereby the barrel, after it has been raised up out of and above the tank, may be shifted .to one side of the tank, so that its load may be discharged into containers outside the tank, comprises duplicate parallel arms 23 springing from the upper ends of standards 1 and extending at an angle to .the vertical (leftward in Fig. 2), the outer ends of these inclined arms 23 being in a vertical plane that passes outside the tank wall (Fig. 2). Pivoted adjacent the upper flat ends of arms 23 respectively, as at 24, are two rods 25, each provided at its lower end with ahook forma- Ition 2E, and at its upper flattened end with a curved segment formation 21 having thereon two notches or stop walls 28v and 23. Also pivoted on the upper end of each arm 23, asat 3i), is a dog or pawl member having two integral or rigidly united fingers 3! and 32, ringer 3i contacting with and slidable over the plane end surface of rod 25, and having a pawl end cooperative with the end edge surface of the segmented formation 21 and the notches 28 and 29 thereof; and finger 32 having slidable contact with the flat surface of the segment formation 21 against the tension of spring 33, and having an end portion cooperative with the end of a control lever X 34 thatis pivoted at 2d, this pivot 24 serving also as a pivot for the end of rod 25 below the segmental end formation 21 thereof, as already described. This lever 34 is operated by a pull rod 35. 36 are upstanding bracket members secured to arm 23, as indicated at 31. From the upper ends of these bracket members 36 depend coil springs 38, the lower ends of which are fastened, as at 39, to the hook rods 25.

With the construction thus described, and assuming the parts to be in the full line position of Fig. 2, i. e., with the loaded barrel elevated clear of and directly above the tank, the rods 25, their hooked ends 26, and their segmented pawlcontrolled ends 21 are related to other parts as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In particular it should be noted that hooks 26 (Fig. 2) are a bit to one side of and not directly vertically under the suspension-rod I5, the hooked rods 25 being held in this position by the pull of springs 38. A pull on the handle 35 will move the left-hand end of lever 34 upwardly against the end of nger 32, whereby the pawl-end of finger 3l is raised out of notch 28 and permitted to move into notch 29 (Fig. 4) as the continued pull of springs 38 onV the hook rods moves the upper ends of the latter to the Fig. 4 position thereof. In this position of the parts the hooks 26 are directly vertically under the suspension-rod I5 (dotted lines, Fig. 2) and held there because of the pull of springs 38.

Upon reverse operation of .the crank I2 the suspension-rod I5 is first brought to rest withinY the hooks 26 and then, under the inuence o-f gravity the loaded tank moves out leftward to the dotted line position of Fig. 2, against the pull of springs 38 on the hanger rods 25 (finger 3l permitting the segmented edge of the hook-rod end 21 to slide under it as the hook-rod moves to the dotted line position of Fig. 2), the rods 25 now constituting the suspension-support for the tank. The tank is discharged by rotating it to position with its opening above the funnels or chutes 40, by which the discharged contents are directed into suitable containers 4I, for further disposition.

The barrel is reloaded, and upon operation of crank I2 the pull of the cables I4 moves the hook-rods 25 from the dotted line position of Fig. 2 to the full line position thereof, at which time lingers 3| engage notches 28 of rod segment ends 21 (Figs. 2 and 3), halting the movement of rods 25. Continued operation of the crank, however, pulls the suspension-rod I5 (to the right, Fig. 2) out of the now-stationary hooks 26, so that upon reverse operation of the crank the barrel may be lowered directly downward into the tank supported now from the cables I4.

It is to be understood that the invention is capable of modication beyond the illustrated embodiments, in view of which such limitations as are to be imposed thereon are only those set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a device of the kind described, a. tank, a barrel, a windlass, a cable fast to the barrel and to the windlass, for supporting and for moving the barrel in a substantially vertical path into and out of the tank and for moving the barrel from a position beyond the side wall of the tank to an elevated position vertically above the tank;

an auxiliary means biased to move into position to engage the barrel when the barrel is in a particular position vertically above the tank, and operable to support and cause movement of the barrel under the inuence of gravity from said elevated position to a position beyond the side wall of the tank, and to support the barrel while, on operation of the windlass, the barrel moves from its outside-the-tank position towards its position vertically above the tank; stop means normally operative to limit the said biased movement of the auxiliary means; and means for rendering said stop means ineffective when desired, substantially as set forth.

2. In a device of the kind described, a tank, a barrel, means, including a cable and windlass, for supporting and for moving the barrel vertically into and out of the tank, and an auxiliary means operable to support and move the barrel from a position above the tank to a position beyond the side walls of the tank, such auxiliary means being controllable to engage the barrel after the first-named barrel supporting and moving means has moved the barrel to a position directly above the tank; a frame in which the barrel is rotatable, said frame including a suspension-rod; the auxiliary means including hook rods pivotally supported above the tank for swinging movement, and the hooks of said hook rods adapted to engage the suspension-rod; the cable connection being from the Windlass to the suspension-rod and being maintained when the suspension-rod is engaged by the hooks of the hook rods, and being operative to bring the barrel back from its position beyond the side wall of the a barrel, means, including a cable and windless,

tank to a position directly above the tank; and manually controllable means for determining and xing the operative positions of the hook rods with relation to the suspension-rod and to the tank.

3. In a device of the kind described, a tank,

for supporting and for moving the barrel vertically into and out of the tank, and an auxiliaryV means operable to support and move the barrel from a position above the tank to a position beyond the side Walls of the tank, such auxiliary means being controllable to engage the barrel after the first-named barrel supporting and moving means has moved the barrel to a position di- 45? rectly above the tank; a frame in which the barrel is rotatable, said frame including a suspension-rod; the auxiliary means including hook rods pivotally supported above the tank for swinging movement, and the hooks of said hook'rods adapted to engage the suspension-rod; and elbow hangers connecting the suspension-rod to the barrel.

4. The device set forth in claim 1, in which the barrel is rotatable in a, frame including a suspension-rod, and in which the auxiliary means includes hook rods pivotally supported above the tank for swinging movement, the hooks of said hook rods adapted to engage the suspension-rod.

5. The device set forth in claim l, in which the barrel is rotatable in a frame including a suspension-rod, and in which the auxiliary means includes hook rods pivotally supported above the tank for swinging movement, the hooks of said hook rods adapted to engage the suspension-rod; and in which the cable connection is from the windlass to the suspension-rod, is maintainedwhen the suspension-rod is engaged by the hooks of the hook rods, and is operative to bring the barrel back from its position beyond the side wall of the tank to a position directlyabove the tank.

ARCH MELVIN KIRKPATRICK. 

